A BILL to amend and reenact §3-5-8a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to primary elections and nominating
procedures and reducing the signature requirement of petitions
in lieu of the filing fee and replace the oath of
impecuniosity with a statement of intent.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §3-5-8a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND NOMINATING PROCEDURES.

§3-5-8a. Nominating petitions as alternatives to filing fees; oath
of impecuniosity requiredstatement that the candidate
is unable to pay the filing fee required; petition in
lieu of payment of filing fee.

A candidate seeking nomination to any office who is unable to
pay the filing fee may qualify through the following petition
process in lieu of payment of the filing fee.

The candidate shall file an oatha statement with the
appropriate office required under section eight of this article
stating that he or she is unable to pay the filing fee due to a
lack of financial resources. Such oathand instead intends to
submit voter-signed petitions. The statement shall be filed not
earlier than the second Monday in January next preceding the
primary election day.

Upon receipt of the written oathstatement the receiving
officer shall provide the candidate with in-lieu-of-filing-fee
petition forms and instructions on gathering the required
signatures. The number of required signatures shall be four
qualified votersone qualified voter for each whole dollar of the
filing fee: Provided, That the filing fee shall be waived, in
whole and not in part. Only signatures of voters registered in the
county, district or other political division represented by the
office sought may be solicited. Solicitors of signatures shall
also be residents of the county, district or other geographical
entity represented by the office sought: Provided, however, That
for offices to be filled by the voters of more than one county,
separate petition forms shall be used for the signatures of
qualified voters from each county.

No qualified voter forfeits his or her opportunity to vote in
the primary election by signing an in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition.

The candidate may submit a greater number of signatures to
allow for subsequent losses due to invalidity of some signatures.
The clerk of the county commission may not be required to determine
the validity of a greater number of signatures than that required
by this section.

Signatures obtained on an in-lieu-of-filing-fee petition shall
not be counted toward the number of voters required to sign a
nomination certificate in accordance with section twenty-three of
this article.

The candidate shall file all in-lieu-of-filing-fee petitions
with the required number of valid signatures with the clerk of the
county commission or Secretary of State, as the case may be, not
later than the last date required by law for filing declarations of
candidacies and payment of the filing fee.

The oathstatement and forms required by this section shall be
prescribed by the Secretary of State.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the ability of
candidates to obtain ballot access by reducing the signature
requirement for the filing fee waiver. The bill also replaces the
oath of impecuniosity with a statement from the candidate stating
that the candidate is unable to pay the filing fee and will submit
voter-signed petitions in lieu of paying the filing fee.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.